PUBG players on PC are seeing a small update to the game today that promises to fix two key issues. A patch, now live, addresses an issue with long-range hits not registering properly. The patch also fixes an issues with the game's lobby that caused the client to crash.
Players are being encouraged to download the patch right away. The massively popular shooter officially launched its 1.0 version on PC last month. It continues to be an unprecedented success, reaching 3 million concurrent players on Steam on December 30. The game's creator, Playerunknown aka Brendan Greene, has said he thinks the game could reach 100 million total players (not concurrent) to achieve League of Legends-like success.
Kim also said the developer wants to bring the game to "every platform," so a PlayStation 4 release could be in the cards. He said part of what is keeping PUBG off PS4 for now (outside of Microsoft's timed-exclusive agreement) is that Sony's system doesn't have an Early Access program. The developer also said it has spoken with Netflix and people in Hollywood about extending the game to new mediums.
Nintendo Switch got off to a hot start at launch last year, and that success carried through the end of 2017. Through its first 10 months on the market, Switch is now the best-selling home console in US history, according to Nintendo.
In those 10 months, which cover the period from launch in March 2017 through the beginning of this month, Nintendo has sold 4.8 million Switch units in the US. That figure tops the mark set by any previous home console in its first 10 months on the market, including the record set by the Wii, which sold 4 million units in the US in a comparable span of time. Through September, Switch sales stood at 2 million units.
Nintendo also shared news about how some of the platform's major games have performed. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Switch's big launch game, has seen at attach rate of "over" 55% in the US, meaning sales are at least 2.64 million units. Super Mario Odyssey, despite having launched at the end of October, is already over 60% (2.88 million). Take note that Breath of the Wild is also available on Wii U, which may be a factor in its lower attach rate. Also performing well were Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (over 50%, or 2.4 million copies) and Splatoon 2 (over 20%, or 960,000 copies).
Buckle up, Rick & Morty fans, you may be in for a long wait. Though Season 3 ended in October, it's entirely possible there will be a nearly two-year gap before the Adult Swim series returns.
That news comes care of Ryan Ridley, a writer and producer on the series. Speaking to the Detroit Cast in early December, Ridley revealed that work on Season 4 has yet to begin. "They really take their time. I never understood why everybody--all parties, Dan [Harmon], Justin [Roiland], and Adult Swim--didn't get their s*** together, and make the show fast," he says. "I just don't get it. It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm sure they all have their reasons."
Given how long the process takes, Ridley isn't hopeful that fans will get new episodes anytime soon. "We got done writing Season 3 in November of last year and here we are 11 months later," he explains. "And then I know how long the show takes to write, let alone animate, so it's just like, I'd be surprised if there was a fourth season on the air any sooner than 2019--in late 2019."
While Season 3 technically launched on April 1 with an April Fool's Day episode streaming online, new episodes didn't begin airing weekly until July--eight months after Ridley says writing was finished in November. If he's not expecting a new season until late 2019, it seems that writing on new episodes won't begin anytime soon.
That said, per Polygon, Adult Swim hasn't actually renewed Rick & Morty for a fourth season, though Ridley is positive it will happen. Harmon, a co-creator on the show, also confirmed at New York Comic-Con that a fourth season was guaranteed.
If you don't know how to handle the long break before a new season of Rick & Morty arrives, never fear because GameSpot is here. You can check out our episode breakdowns to dig even deeper into the series.
If you hadn't noticed, it is no longer 2017. And you know what that means: cheap video games! To celebrate the new year, Nintendo UK is discounting a number of Eshop titles on both Switch and 3DS.
Some big Switch games are included in the Happy New Year sale, including Nintendo's fighting game, Arms, which is 20% off at £40. 1-2-Switch, meanwhile, is down to £28--a 30% reduction on the standard Eshop price. More Switch games on offer include NBA 2K18 (£35.74), Flip Wars (£6.29), LA Noire (£33.74), WWE 2K18 (£33), and SteamWorld Dig 2 (£11). Plenty more titles are discounted in the sale; take a look at the full list here.
The first week of January doesn't just usher in a new year. It also means a slew of new movies and TV shows are arriving on Netflix. If you're looking for a post-holiday binge to help ease the pain of returning to the normal world, the streaming service has you covered.
Perhaps the best new additions are the arrival of the Batman films. Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, and Batman Begins are all available for streaming as of January 1. The Lethal Weapon and Bring It On franchises have also joined Netflix's vast library of movies.
Among the other film titles being added this week are Breakfast at Tiffany's, Caddyshack, King Kong, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 30 Days of Night, and National Treasure. On the TV front, new seasons of Eastsiders, Lovesick, and Episodes have come to Netflix.
The next major expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online is on the way soon. Bethesda has shared the first details for the Dragon Bones DLC pack, which is slated to arrive next month and introduces two new dungeons and other content to the online RPG.
The centerpiece of the Dragon Bones expansion is the aforementioned pair of dungeons, Scalecaller Peak and Fang Lair. Bethesda describes Scalecaller Peak as "the burial site of a long-dead Dragon Priest," which is now teeming with cultists who plot to unleash a deadly plague upon Tamriel. Fang Lair, meanwhile, is "an ancient Dwarven ruin" where a dark sorcerer is attempting to revive a fearsome dragon.
Players will encounter new and returning monsters within the two new dungeons, such as "plague-ridden ogres, powerful sorcerers and their undead creations, and even the reanimated bones of an ancient dragon." Both will be available in Normal and Veteran modes; the latter will also boast a Hard mode for each dungeon's final boss fight.
In addition to the new dungeons, the Dragon Bones expansion adds new items, monster sets, and achievements. One of the new items is the Renegade Dragon Priest Mask, which players will earn simply for entering one of the game's two new dungeons.
The Dragon Bones pack releases in February. Like previous expansions, it will be available to purchase from the in-game Crown Store, while ESO Plus members will receive it for no additional cost. Coinciding with the expansion's release, Bethesda will roll out Elder Scrolls Online's next free update, dubbed Update 17, which will be available to all ESO players.
Update 17 introduces several new features to the MMO, including the ability to store items in your home and a new Outfit system that allows you to customize the appearance of your equipment. The update also adds two new PvP Battlegrounds: Mor Khazgur and Deeping Drome. However, players will need to own ESO's Morrowind expansion in order to play the Battlegrounds mode. You can read more about the Dragon Bones expansion and Update 17 on the official ESO website.
Voting for the second annual Steam Awards recently concluded, and Valve has now revealed the winners. Although the categories are more unusual than what we're accustomed to seeing from end-of-year awards, that didn't stop the usual suspects from winning.
The Labor of Love award, for older titles with strong continued support, went to Warframe, beating out games such as Team Fortress 2 and Path of Exile. The Suspension of Disbelief category went to Rocket League, while Cuphead, Just Cause 3, and Stardew Valley won other awards. Cuphead was the only game to win more than one award this year, taking home both Best Soundtrack and Even Better Than I Expected. You can see the full list of winners below or on Steam.
Each category consisted of five games that Steam users could vote on. Those five were nominated by users previously, with categories each opening up for a single day during the just-concluded Steam winter sale.
Steam Awards 2017 Winners
Choices Matter -- The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
Mom's Spaghetti -- PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Labor Of Love -- Warframe
Suspension of Disbelief -- Rocket League
The World Is Grim Enough, Let's Just All Get Along -- Stardew Valley
Following years of financial troubles, it looked as if Mad Catz had finally met its end last year when it filed for bankruptcy. Instead, 2018 will be a rebirth for the accessory maker, as it has announced it's making a return to the business and provided an outline of some of its upcoming hardware.
Now known as Mad Catz Global Limited, the company's new headquarters are located in Kowloon, Hong Kong. In a press release, it revealed that it's under new management and claims to have "new ideas" and a "new attitude." In addition to an overview of some new accessories it has on the way, it plans to further showcase them at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, which takes place next week.
"We couldn't be more excited than to begin 2018 by announcing the return of Mad Catz to the global gaming arena," said Mad Catz director of sales and operations, Selena Chang. "Mad Catz has been a permanent fixture in gaming for almost three decades and we firmly believe it's best days lie ahead. Through listening to gamers worldwide, we plan to once again forge a path of innovation in the gaming hardware community, and we're already working on delivering products which we believe will enhance gamers' abilities and do justice to the Mad Catz name. We can't wait to unveil a little more at CES 2018 and in the months to come."
Among the hardware it announced is the Rat Air wireless mouse. This includes a "wireless activation gaming surface," which is essentially a large mousepad that provides power to the mouse, meaning you never have to recharge it or change out batteries. Alternatively, you can do without the surface and simply connect the mouse to your computer with an included USB cable, which is said to be "robust."
Mad Catz also announced the Strike 4 mechanical keyboard and Freq 4 headset. The Strike 4 is equipped with an aluminum frame and RGB lighting options, while the Freq 4 headset has 40mm drivers and a metal-plated frame. Pricing and release details for all of these were not shared, but you can see images of the three devices above. We should have more information once CES arrives.
A new batch of games is now available in the Nintendo Switch Eshop. This week is a fairly light one in terms of releases; only four games launch in the digital store today, with one more arriving tomorrow, January 5.
As per usual, one of this week's releases is another ACA Neo Geo game, the arcade brawler King of the Monsters. Players take control of towering creatures and duke it out across 12 destructible cities in Japan, with the object being to pin your opponent and earn the title of the strongest monster. The game features six different monsters to choose from and supports two-player multiplayer. Like all other ACA Neo Geo games, King of the Monsters costs $8/£6.29.
ACA Neo Geo King of the Monsters
Also available on Switch this week is Stikbold: A Dodgeball Adventure Deluxe. Originally released on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2016, Stikbold is a humorous, '70s-themed dodgeball game that features 18 different characters to choose from and supports up to six players simultaneously. The game also includes a campaign mode that can be played either solo or cooperatively with one friend, as well as new content exclusive to the Switch version. Stikbold runs for $16 in the US Eshop; the game is currently on sale in the UK Eshop for £14.39 until January 12.
Rounding out today's releases are the picross game Pic-a-Pix Deluxe and the isometric racing game Grand Prix Rock 'N Racing, both of which can be downloaded from the Eshop for $8 (or £7 and £7.19) respectively. They'll be followed tomorrow by Azkend 2: The World Beneath, a match-three puzzle game that features a 60-level Story mode and hidden object mini-games. You can see the full list of this week's Switch releases below.
In addition to the new releases, this week marks the beginning of a new sale in the Eshop. From now until January 14, Switch owners can find discounts on a handful of titles by developer Inti Creates, including Blaster Master Zero ($7), Mighty Gunvolt Burst ($7), and the Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack ($32). You can find all the titles currently on sale in the US Eshop on Nintendo's website. Nintendo is holding a separate New Year sale in the UK that includes discounts on first-party titles like Arms, 1-2-Switch, and Flip Wars.
Bandai Namco's highly anticipated Dragon Ball fighting game, Dragon Ball FighterZ, launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in just a few weeks. Ahead of the game's release, Bandai Namco has shared the opening cinematic that will greet players when they boot up Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Paladins, a free-to-play hero shooter that has previously been compared to Overwatch, is launching a PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds-like battle royale mode. The new mode is simply called Battlegrounds, and it's coming to Paladins at some point in 2018.
Battlegrounds will spawn 100 players into a "massive map" that developer Hi-Rez says is over 300 times the size of a typical Paladins Siege map. Success in Battlegrounds will involve exploring the territory and looting its outposts for gear. Where Battlegrounds differs from PUBG, however, is that players are put into squads and must work together to be the last team standing. Check out a trailer for the new mode below.
The villainous Wilson Fisk is one of the best bad guys ever to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Vincent D'Onofrio's performance as the crimeboss was the highlight of the first season of Daredevil. In October, it was confirmed that D'Onofrio will reprise the role for Season 3 of Netflix's superhero show, and new on-set images have provided a few hints about what to expect when it returns later this year.
Daredevil Season 3 is currently in production in New York, and images have appeared on Twitter that show a crowd of anti-Fisk protestors gathered outside a hotel. Last time we saw the character--briefly in Season 2--he was still in prison, so presumably he is now a free man. Check the images out below:
Daredevil Season 3 will see Charlie Cox return in the title role, with Deborah Ann Woll back as Karen Page. It has also been rumored that Rosario Dawson is to reprise her recurring role as Claire Temple in both Daredevil and Iron Fist Season 2, which is currently shooting too.
In a recent interview with Collider, D'Onofrio spoke about playing Fisk."I love the idea that I get to play him," he said. "I wanted to do the right thing, and I want to keep doing it. I remember the first season and how all of the Daredevil and Fisk fans were talking about it. It's a big deal to them, and that really inspired me. It really brought my enthusiasm up, a lot."
The actor went on to talk about what fans could expect from him in Season 3. "I've shot some pretty cool scenes, so far," he said. "It's different, but it's very Fisk. It's still very emotional. The character is evolving. His whole deal is based on emotion, so we're taking him down that role further."
Although Ridley Scott returned to take control of the Alien franchise with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, for a while fans were also looking forward to a new Alien movie from director Neil Blomkamp. Blomkamp's film was going to be a direct sequel to the 1986 classic Aliens, but sadly it didn't progress past the development stage.
Now the District 9 director has tweeted about moving on from the project, as well as releasing some unseen production artwork. "I have moved on. What I meant was that I wish there was a way for fans to see some of what we had designed," he said. "It was an amazing chance to work in the world Ridley and James Cameron created. And collaborate with Sigourney [Weaver]."
Blomkamp also stated that a large amount of art was created for the "never to be made Aliens sequel," including "environments to characters to set design." The director had also previously released several pieces of concept art from it.
Just going through the volume of art created for this never to be made aliens sequel. From environments to characters to set design, we did a lot. Mostly over 2015. pic.twitter.com/nkfwHu3OF7
In related news, Scott recently said that he hopes the Alien series will continue despite the box office failure of Covenant. "There's no reason why Alien should now not be on the same level for fans as Star Trek and Star Wars," he said. "I think the next [question] as to where we go is, do we sustain the Alien [franchise] with the evolution of the beast or do we reinvent something else? I think you need to have an evolution on this famous beast, because he's the best monster ever, really."
A number of changes and additions are on the way to Smite, developer Hi-Rez Studios announced today. As part of Hi-Rez Expo 2018's opening keynote, some major updates for the MOBA have been revealed, including the game's next character and a revamped version of its Conquest map.
The new map is more than just a visual change, although that is part of it. This updated version is symmetrical, meaning your experience will be the same regardless of the side that your team calls home. Lanes and jungle paths are now identical on both sides, which lead designer AJ Walker says "balances the map and removes timing differences to each side. Overall, this creates a more consistent gameplay experience."
Art all around the map has also changed, as you can see in the images below, with monsters such as the Gold Fury getting "lore-inspired makeovers." More importantly, jungle fog makes a return, making it clearer what areas you have vision of. PC players will be able to test all of this out starting on January 17, when the map is released on the Public Test Server.
Coming before then is Smite's next character, Cerberus. He joins the existing roster of 92 gods very soon, as update 4.25 is slated for release on PC on January 9. A PS4 and Xbox One release date wasn't shared, but it should be coming soon as well. At some point in 2018, we'll also see new characters introduced from two new pantheons, Slavic and Voodoo.
In addition to Hi-Rez Expo, the Smite World Championships are now underway. PS4 owners with PS Plus can still get a bonus Smite pack with a bunch of free stuff, while those on Xbox One can pick up the Smite X Edition pack that grants a free character and skin.
EA's Star Wars Battlefront II may have launched towards the end of last year, but that hasn't stopped the original Star Wars: Battlefront II from being improved. The classic game has just received a new update on PC, over 12 years after its launch.
The patch is relatively minor: Disney says it includes things like minor bug fixes and improved lobby functionality. Steam usernames should also now be displayed correctly in-game, while ping calculations will be more accurate going forward. Check out the full patch notes, via Disney, at the bottom of this article.
Star Wars: Battlefront II received a major update back in October, when online multiplayer support was restored after it being switched off years ago. It also added cross-play support between GOG and Steam users.
EA's newer Battlefront II, meanwhile, recently received some free DLC centered around The latest Star Wars film, The Last Jedi. It added two new maps and new hero characters, among other things. As for the film itself, we thought the film had issues, but successfully developed the sequels' characters and subverted series tropes well. For more, check out our Star Wars: Last Jedi review.
Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) Patch Notes
Minor bug fixes and optimized performance, the most important fixes are:
As part of its continued effort to expand the amount of content available to non-DLC owners, Bungie has released a new Destiny 2 update on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Rather than address any bugs or exploits, this patch deals exclusively with undoing the studio's previous decision to lock those who haven't purchased Curse of Osiris out of content they had access to previously.
Bungie has shared patch notes for hotfix update 1.1.1.2, which is now available following a batch of server maintenance. It makes good on Bungie's previous announcement to expand both Iron Banner and Faction Rally, which became inaccessible to non-DLC owners after Curse of Osiris's release. The brief, complete patch notes for the new update follow at the bottom of this post, but they boil down to letting everyone access the two events.
Community manager David Dague recently teased that these changes were coming as part of this update. The most recent Faction Rally event, which would have been the first as part of the game's Season 2 that started with Curse of Osiris, was scheduled to take place in mid-December. But Destiny 2 players were outraged over the newly imposed DLC paywall, and Bungie canceled the event "to ensure all of our players can access the activity and the appropriate rewards."
A new date for the next Iron Banner or Faction Rally has not been announced, but Dague said, "Updates to the live calendar [will] come next week." Once they do return, existing Season 1 rewards from the events will still be available to all players. But new seasonal rewards, which will include armor ornaments, will be limited to those who own Curse of Osiris.
Update 1.1.1.2 is now available on all platforms. Unfortunately, it doesn't address the Warlock Super glitch in Crucible's Mayhem mode, but Bungie warned players in December that it would not be able to fix it before The Dawning event comes to an end on January 9.
Destiny 2 Update 1.1.1.2 Patch Notes
Iron Banner
Players who do not own Curse of Osiris may once again access Iron Banner when available
Faction Rallies
Players who do not own Curse of Osiris may once again pledge to Factions during Faction Rally events
Looking for a way to ring in the new year that involves little more than your couch and a TV? Luckily for you, the start of a new month means new movies and TV shows added to several streaming services--including Hulu.
In terms of movies, there are a number of standout titles being added to the streamer, but none quite as excellent as both films in the Bill & Ted series. Both Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey arrive on January 1, along with movies like Zodiac, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Karate Kid 1-4, and Grizzly Man.
For TV, new seasons of Fear the Walking Dead, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Homeland all arrive. January will also see the addition of many cooking shows, with new episodes of Cutthroat Kitchen, Beat Bobby Flay, Cupcake Wars, and Great Food Truck Race among the titles arriving.
Regular updates to Grand Theft Auto V continue in 2018. Although the first weekly update of the year is not a massive one, Rockstar has released a cool new vehicle and announced some new discounts and extended bonuses that may get you to boot up the game on PS4, Xbox One, or PC.
GTA V's newest car is a rally vehicle, the Annis Savestra Sports Classic. It's available now through Legendary Motorsport, and while it looks to be a worthwhile ride on its own, it can get even better. Those with access to an Avenger or Mobile Operations Center have some optional upgrades for the Savestra, including mounted machine guns.
If you don't yet own a MOC, you can pick up the cab for 50% off its regular price from now through January 8. You can get also get 30% off the Coil Cyclone or Grotti Visione, or 25% off the Ocelot Ardent (a weaponized vehicle), the FH-1 Hunter helicopter, P-45 Nokota plane, and HVY APC (another weaponized vehicle). In the case of the latter three, the discount applies to both the buy-it-now and trade prices.
On the bonus side, Adversary modes Slashers and Occupy are awarding players with double GTA$ and RP until January 8. The Premium Stunt Race is Duel, with a restriction to Muscle-class vehicles, while the Time Trail is Up N Atom. The Premium Race hands out big GTA$ payouts to the top three finishers, while everyone gets Triple RP. The Time Trial offers GTA$ and RP for those who can beat the target time.
Editor's Note (5:39PM PST) Due to the bug associated with A Garden World Nightfall strike, which prevented some players from gaining certain rewards, Bungie has changed the mission to The Inverted Spire. We have updated the text below to reflect the new mission. But please enjoy the video of Erick Tay playing through the original Nightfall during our livestream.
It's the first week of the new year, and we've now gotten the first Destiny 2 weekly reset of 2018. This brings with it a new Nightfall Strike for players to try their hand at, along with a new Flashpoint on Io and a lineup of Eververse items to consider purchasing before The Dawning ends. Here's what to expect from this week's Nightfall, The Inverted Spire, on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. In terms of Modifiers, we again see the return of Momentum. As a reminder, this particular modifier forces players to keep moving forward to restore health and and shields. Additionally, Timewarp: Rings is active, which means you'll have to jump through several rings scattered around the Strike to gain more time.
That's especially true if you're hoping to finish the first of this week's Challenges. Speed of Dark is enabled, as always, and requires you to finish the Strike with at least five minutes left on the timer. Unbroken tasks you with making it through with fewer than three deaths. And in addition to those, The Floor Is Lava tasks you and your fireteam to not get hit by Protheon's fiery ground attack before defeating it.
As with any week, completing the Nightfall rewards you with Powerful Gear. The Nightfall is one of the only ways to obtain that level of gear, which is a reliable way to boost your Power level. This Nightfall will be available until the next weekly reset, which occurs at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM GMT on Tuesday, January 9 (4 AM AET on January 10).
The Nightfall is available now, but you'll be unable to try it--or anything else--for a period of time on Wednesday, January 3. Bungie has announced Destiny 2 maintenance and a new update will be deployed on that day, which will result in downtime for several hours. Meanwhile, The Dawning event continues and will come to an end on the same day as this Nightfall, January 9.
Microsoft's big end-of-year sale on the Xbox Store wraps up on January 4, but that doesn't mean your last chance to get cheap Xbox games has passed. The latest set of weekly deals has arrived for Xbox Live Gold members, bringing a select number of discounts on Xbox One games and DLC, alongside those on a few Xbox 360 games.
Among the most noteworthy offers on Xbox One is Diablo III: Eternal Collection for $30 / £27.50. This bundles together the base game, the excellent Reaper of Souls expansion, and the Rise of the Necromancer DLC (which adds the very fun Necromancer class). Alternatively, if you already own the game and Reaper of Souls, you can pick up Rise of the Necromancer on its own for $10 / £8.31.
Separately from these deals, the first of January's free Games With Gold titles are now available. Those include The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III; if you're taken with it or want to start with an earlier title in the series, Gold members can pick up the first game in the series for $5 / £3.96. Additionally, if you don't have Gold, there are still a few deals to be had, including Furi for $10 / £8.
All of these offers are available from now through January 8. You can see the full list here.
2018 is here, and January is bringing with a variety of new content to streaming services. Amazon has announced all of the movies and TV shows coming to Prime Video this month--and there is some great content coming to kick off the New Year.
The 10th season of the BBC's sci-fi show Doctor Who arrived on January 1, along with Darren Aronofsky's chilling drama Requiem for a Dream. Also now out is Sam Mendes' Oscar-nominated (and very sad) movie Revolutionary Road and David Fincher's thriller Zodiac. Quentin Tarantino's first movie, Reservoir Dogs, also came to Amazon Prime on January 1.
Coming on January 12 is the first season of the Amazon Original show Electric Dreams, which stars Bryan Cranston, Anna Paquin, Timothy Spall, and Steve Buscemi. At the end of the month, you'll be able to see the new 2017 entry in Vin Diesel's xXx franchise, The Return of Xander Cage. You can see Amazon Prime's full lineup below, as rounded up and compiled by GameSpot sister site CNET.
New to Amazon Prime, January 2018
January 1
The 2018 Rose Parade Hosted by Cord & Tish (Amazon original)
All is Lost
American Ninja
Assassination
Avenging Force
Babel
Baby Mama's Club
Black Rain
Brothers
Burning Blue
But I'm a Cheerleader
Capote
Coming Soon
Cool World
Cross Bronx
Dangerous Curves
Drop Dead Sexy
Doctor Who, season 10
Evolution
Flawless
Freedom Writers
Hamlet
Highway
Horsemen
Hustle & Flow
Invaders from Mars
Love and Death
Love Story
Murphy's Law
Platoon Leader
Pretty Bird
Primitive
Requiem for a Dream
Reservoir Dogs
Revenge of the Ninja
Revolutionary Road
Richard the Lionheart
Show of Force
Six Degrees of Separation
Step Into Liquid
Street Smart
The Perfect Weapon
The Presidio
The Wraith
Thelma & Louise
Uncommon Valor
Words and Pictures
Zodiac
January 5
The Devil's Double
January 6
Grimm, season 6
January 7
A Ghost Story
January 9
Prime Suspect: Tennison, season 1
January 12
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, season 1 (Amazon original)
Update: Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is now free on PS4 as well as PS Vita in the US. However, you may have to 'purchase' the game on PS4 and PS Vita separately, since it is not normally part of Sony's Cross-Buy scheme. The below text has been altered to reflect the change. Original story follows.
It's the start of a new month--and a new year--which means more free games are now available for PlayStation Plus subscribers. January's allotment of free PS Plus games are out now on the PlayStation Store, meaning that titles like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Batman: The Telltale Series have temporarily dropped to the low, low price of free for paying subscribers.
Mankind Divided is the headlining PS4 freebie this month. The dystopian cyberpunk role-playing game casts you as Adam Jensen and tasks you with catching a terrorist group, which you can do by being a stealthy detective or a tech-enhanced killing machine, or some mixture of both.
As for Telltale's Batman game, this is the first season of the story and puts players in tricky situations as both Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter-ego. The decisions you make will have some consequence on the relationships around you, and the overall story.
Other PS4 freebies in January include the wacky and fun party game That's You! (if you're outside of North America) and StarBlood Arena (which requires PlayStation VR). Additionally, PS Vita's free games, Uncanny Valley and Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness, are both free on PS4, too. You may have to 'purchase' Psycho-Pass on PS4 and PS Vita separately, however, since it is not normally part of Sony's Cross-Buy scheme. Note that in Europe and Australia, Psycho-Pass is only free on PS Vita, not PS4. Finally, PS3 owners get Sacred 3 and The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 for free.
You can see January 2018's full PS Plus lineup--covering PS4, PS3, and Vita--below, or you can claim them on the PlayStation Store.
The first of January 2018's free Games With Gold titles for Xbox One and Xbox 360 are now available for subscribers. On Xbox One, the action RPG The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III is completely free all month long. You play as the famous monster hunter on a journey to take down one of your toughest foes yet.
On Xbox 360, Square Enix's Tomb Raider Underworld is now available for the low, low price of $0.00. Note that this game plays on Xbox One through backwards compatibility, so Xbox One owners can pick it up as well. One of December 2017's free Xbox One Games With Gold titles, Back to the Future: The Game, remains free until January 15.
Then on January 16, a new set of free Xbox One and Xbox 360 games will be available, including Zombi (Xbox One) and Army of Two (Xbox 360). You can see the full Games With Gold lineup for January 2018 down below. You need to have an Xbox Live Gold membership to get these games., but claiming them will allow you to continue playing for as long as you are a subscriber.
January 2018 Games With Gold
Xbox One
Back to the Future: The Game - 30th Anniversary Edition (December 16 - January 15)
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III (January 1-31)
A new year means a new selection of movies and TV shows arriving on Netflix. January is here, and this month, a number of films, shows, and specials will debut on the streaming service, including several Netflix Originals.
The most notable arrival is the Batman series of films. Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin are all now available to stream, having been added on January 1. Additionally, Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins will also debut. They were joined by all four movies in the Lethal Weapon series, National Treasure, and The Godfather trilogy.
When it comes to TV, January will bring new seasons of originals One Day at a Time, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Grace and Frankie, and The Adventures of Puss in Boots. Among other arrivals are all five seasons of Showtime's Episodes, the second season of Colony, and a new batch of Eastsiders episodes.
Sadly, along with the arrivals come the months departures. Leaving Netflix in January are seven Saw movies, several Pokemon animated films, and The Addams Family, for starters. Perhaps most importantly, all six seasons of Lost will disappear from the streamer on January 4. So if you've been meaning to revisit that cursed island, it's time to clear out your schedule.
In Nexon's latest earnings report, the company discussed how LawBreakers came up short commercially and suggested that PUBG had something to do with it. "Our results in North America in the third quarter were below our outlook, mainly due to the sales from LawBreakers being below our expectations," Nexon said in its report, which was spotted and reported on by PCGamesN. "LawBreakers is a unique FPS developed for core users. We had very high expectations for its launch."
LawBreakers was released in July on PS4 and PC, which was not long after PUBG hit the scene on Early Access. Regarding LawBreakers' release window, Nexon said, "The timing of its launch turned out to be unfortunate, specifically the blockbuster PC online game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds came out right about the same time, making the market environment very tough for first-person shooters in general and for LawBreakers."
Perhaps more notably, Nexon CFO Shiro Uemura said in the earnings report that "we will not be accruing any other impairment loss pertaining to LawBreakers in the future." As explained by PCGamesN, an "impairment loss" is when the decrease in an asset's value is greater than the money it should be making in the future. In essence, it sounds like Nexon is taking its loss on LawBreakers and moving on. We don't know how much Nexon might have lost on LawBreakers, but the company said its impairment loss made up "the majority" of its expenses during the quarter, which totalled $32.6 million.
Shaun Escayg, who has worked at Naughty Dog for seven years and most recently served as creative director on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, has left the studio. He joined Naughty Dog seven years ago when The Last Of Us was only just getting off the ground. He worked on that title, along with its expansion, Left Behind, before contributing to Uncharted 4. As mentioned, he served as creative director on The Lost Legacy, which launched in 2017 and was widely praised. He said on Twitter that he will "miss all my dogs," referencing his co-workers at Naughty Dog.
As spotted by IGN, Escayg posted a picture of the Avengers logo on Instagram, with the caption, "To new adventures--bring it 2018!" This might mean that he's joining Crystal Dynamics to work on their in-development and unannounced Avengers title. Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal are working on new Avengers projects. More details on these titles will be announced this year, so we may learn more soon.
The Lost Legacy launched in August for PS4. A standalone game, it doesn't feature Nathan Drake but instead puts you in the shoes of Chloe Frazer who fights alongside Nadine Ross in a new story. Our Lost Legacy review scored it a 9/10.
Back in July, Psyonix reported that players had collectively logged 1.5 billion matches since Rocket League launched in 2015. In the just five months since then, gamers played 500 million more matches to bring the total to over 2 billion.
While 40 million is the number of people who have played Rocket League to date, the game hasn't necessarily sold that many copies. That's because the figure includes people playing on guest accounts and in other ways. Rocket League launched in July 2015 as a PlayStation Plus freebie for PS4, so all of those downloads don't count as sales either.
Rocket League is a huge hit, but don't expect Rocket League 2 anytime soon. "Our goal was to keep making Rocket League better and better so that we don't lose any of the people that want to play," Psyonix's Jeremy Dunham said in a previous interview. "If they're playing our game, we're not going to penalise them and make them buy our game again just because we want to add a couple new features. We want to let them know we're in it for the long haul, if they're in it for the long haul."
Rocket League is also available on PC, Xbox One, and most recently, the Nintendo Switch. Psyonix has supported the game with regular updates, and it sounds like more are coming. "We can't wait to tell you about everything else we have in store for 2018," Psyonix said in a blog post.
Part of what makes The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild so great is how open-ended and non-linear it is. If you enjoyed this, you may be happy to learn that series producer Eiji Anonuma has come forward to say Nintendo is committed to this strategy, suggesting the next entry in the series will follow a similar format. He told IGN that the reaction to Breath of the Wild's non-linear nature has been eye-opening.
"I can't speak to what other people, other companies will do in their own games, but I think for me, especially just in terms of the Zelda series, the incredible freedom that this game offers you and how well that's been received…to me, it means that freedom, that level of freedom is something that needs to be maintained in Zelda games going forward," the producer said. "My eyes have been opened to how important that is."
In other Zelda news, Breath of the Wild's newest expansion, Champions' Ballad, launched earlier this month. It adds new story content, along with more weapons and items. For more, check out GameSpot's video review here.
Have you ever wondered what Super Mario 64 would look like from a first-person perspective? Modder Kaze Emanuar released a ROM hack called "First Person Mario 64" recently, and as you can see in the video below (via Kotaku), it changes the way the game looks in serious, significant, and scary ways. It's not perfect, with some of the game geometry breaking in places, but this makes sense considering the designers never intended for the iconic platforming game to be played this way.
The first-person perspective also gives Super Mario 64 more of a feeling of danger and intensity, in particular at the end in the boss battle against Bowser. He looks even bigger and more imposing than ever.
Emanuar was also behind the Super Mario 64 Online multiplayer mod that Nintendo eventually shut down with a copyright claim. He also made "Portal Mario 64," which adds Portal's mechanic of creating portals warping to them to the famous platformer.
The newest Mario game was Super Mario Odyssey for the Nintendo Switch. It was a massive success critically and commercially, winning lots of awards and becoming Amazon's best-selling game of 2017.
Technology is ever evolving, and it's an industry that moves fast. While 2017 brought us a slew of new tech toys that include the Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch, and more, there's still a lot of hardware that we want that hasn't hit the market yet. We've compiled a list of components and gadgets that includes advances in displays, VR, AR, GPUs, and more that we hope to release in 2018.
High Refresh Rate 4K Monitors
4K displays have become much more affordable in 2017. But while ultra-high definition displays went more mainstream, many PC enthusiasts have opted for high refresh rate monitors, trading in pixel count for higher performance. Refresh rate dictates the number of frames a certain screen can display at any second; high-end 1080p and 1440p monitors will have a 144Hz refresh rate instead of the standard 60Hz. As of now, 4K monitors on the market only reach 60Hz. High refresh rate 4K monitors would be the next step for displays in PC gaming.
However, there's a bit of a catch. To take advantage of the hertz increase, your PC has to be powerful enough to produce those higher framerates. The only GPUs capable of high FPS in 4K are enthusiast-level cards (GTX 1080, RX Vega 64, GTX 1080 Ti), and even these GPUs sometimes struggle to maintain 60 FPS. 4K high refresh monitors would need to come out alongside the next generation GPUs for them to be truly worthwhile.
Nvidia Volta GeForce GPUs
Nvidia recently launched its $3,000 Titan V GPU based on the company's new Volta micro-architecture. The card is capable of delivering 110 teraflops of performance, but it's prohibitively expensive and is designed for data scientists. Hopefully the Titan V paves the way for Volta-based GeForce cards geared towards gamers in 2018. We're hoping that it maintains the Titan V's efficient 12nm manufacturing process along with the newer high-bandwidth memory 2 (HBM2) video RAM. Nvidia claims that Volta is twice as power-efficient as the company's Pascal architecture, so it sounds really promising from a performance perspective.
HDR OLED Gaming Monitors
Companies like Asus, Acer, and Dell have teased HDR monitors in 2017, but there aren't many options out on the market at the moment. HDR OLED gaming monitors, which can provide true black levels with their individually backlit pixels, are non-existent. While you can purchase 4K HDR TVs today, hopefully 2018 brings HDR OLED gaming monitors to the fold. The colors and contrast that they would offer would be a very welcomed option.
AMD Vega Refresh, Mid-Range Options or Enthusiast-Level Card
Now that we no longer have to 'wait for Vega,' we can look to how AMD is going to make its next step after setting a strong foundation with its RX Vega 64 and RX Vega 56 GPUs. At the mid-range and budget-level, AMD offers the RX 500-series, which was a simple refresh of its older RX 400-series, but it'd be nice to see a more affordable Vega-architecture card in 2018. Considering that the Vega 56 is $400 MSRP, something cheaper would be much appreciated.
A refresh of the current Vega cards is also a good prospect. Both current models use a lot more power than their Nvidia competitors. Also, an AMD card to stand up to the GTX 1080 Ti seems plausible.
N64 Classic
Considering we got the NES classic in 2016, and the SNES Classic in 2017, it stands to reason that we'll get an N64 Classic in 2018, or at least we hope. While the N64 didn't feature the deepest game library in existence, it produced gems like Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Mario Party, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The N64 also suffered from frame rate dips, but if Nintendo could re-release a tiny version of the console that irons out the performance issues so that all of its games would run at a consistent 60 FPS, that would be amazing. It should, of course, also support four controllers. The icing on the cake would be if GoldenEye 64 came with it, though that is admittedly a pipe dream considering the game's rights have changed significantly since it came out in 1997.
Hololens
When Microsoft initially revealed the HoloLens in 2015, the AR headset showed tremendous potential. It was able to project believable tracked holograms into living rooms without the need for external sensors. This meant you could see a little Minecraft cave etched into a wall or see virtual characters walking around a real house. Unfortunately, the headset has only been sold as dev kits for $3,000. We also haven't heard much from Microsoft about it since. Hopefully 2018 will be the year Microsoft's AR headset makes a resurgence and releases to consumers.
Recent Articles:
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.
No comments:
Post a Comment